XiGo Nanotools

XiGo Nanotools was founded by Sean Race and Dr. David Fairhurst in 2005 with the mission to provide new innovate “tools” for the emerging nanomaterials industry. The Acorn Area is designed to measure the wetted surface area of concentrated dispersions with little or no sample preparation, providing a viable complementary technique to BET surface area, analyzing nanoparticles as they are made or used, dispersed in liquids. Our goal is to provide scientists, researchers, and corporations with tools that are easy to use and serve as wide and diverse a customer base as possible. We have incorporated the latest technology available into an integrated, high quality package that provides precise measurements in a very small footprint.

Designed for Use Across Applications

XiGo instruments are designed to measure industrially relevant materials, and since most nanoparticle dispersions are concentrated, direct measurements on concentrated dispersions is critical. Popular particle analytical methods such as laser diffraction are easy to use but are limited to the analysis of very dilute samples. In the dilution process, many important features of the dispersion are lost. Ease of use is another important feature of XiGo products; you don't have to be a "nanotechnologist" in order to generate meaningful results. Our software is designed so that measurements can be performed with little operator training making our technology accessible to R&D and QC/QA/in-Process applications.

The Core Technology

The Acorn Area's patented technology is based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and although small in size, each Acorn Area is really a portable NMR machine, capable of a wide range of standard NMR tests in addition to surface area measurements. NMR technology provides a non-invasive rapid measurement to determine a number of important properties of nanomaterials which will be the basis for other XiGo instruments in the future.

Graphene oxide membranes have been receiving attention for their extremely powerful separation abilities and the ease at which it can be modified, allowing for membrane permittivity to be fine-tuned. These membranes show the potential to be used for water purification, ‘green’ gas purification and greenhouse gas capture.